Impressive single AA flashlight... the best one?

Hello!

I ordered a Zebralight H51 which is on its way (it will arrive next week maybe) and meanwhile I have been reading specs of other AA lights. As an example, all this data is from Internet:


Fenix HL20:
* Battery: 1.5V AA
* LED: CREE XP-E R2 (unknown tint)
* 105 lm: 1 hrs 48 mins
* 48 lm: 5 hrs 30 mins
* 4 lm: 56 hrs
* Regulated: yes


Fenix LD10:
* Battery: 1.5V AA
* LED: CREE XP-G R5 (unknown tint)
* 100 lm: 1 hrs 48 mins
* 45 lm: 4 hrs 40 mins
* 13 lm: 11 hrs
* 3 lm: 70 hrs
* Regulated: yes


Fenix LD15:
* Battery: 1.5V AA
* LED: CREE XP-G R4 (unknown tint)
* 117 lm: 1 hrs 30 mins
* 8 lm: 39 hrs
* Regulated: yes


4Sevens Quark AA S2 Edition:
* Battery: 1.5V AA
* LED: XP-G S2 (unknown tint)
* 0.4 lm ANSI: 422 hrs
* 4 lm: 48 hrs
* 19 lm 6 hrs
* 83 lm: 90 mins
* 95 lm ANSI: 57 mins
* Regulated: yes (only non-strobe modes)


4Sevens Quark MiNi AA S2 Edition:
* Battery 1.5V AA
* LED: XP-G S2 (unknown tint)
* 4 lm: 39 hrs
* 21 lm: 6 hrs 12 mins
* 70 lm ANSI: 2 hrs 15 mins
* Regulated: it doesn't say (probably not)


Zebralight H51:
* Battery: 1.2V LSD NiMH AA (Eneloop)
* LED: XP-G R? (cool white)
* 200 lm OTF: 54 mins
* 140 lm OTF: 1 hrs 42 mins
* 100 lm OTF: 2 hrs 24 mins
* 30 lm OTF: 12 hrs
* 8 lm OTF: 39 hrs
* 2.5 lm OTF: 72 hrs
* 0.2 lm OTF: 384 hrs
* Regulated: modes 200, 140, 30, 8 and 2.5 lumens


Quark AA2 S2 Edition:
* Battery: 2 x 1.5V AA
* LED: XP-G S2 (unknown tint)
* 0.6 lm: 1277 hrs
* 4 lm: 120 hrs
* 19 lm: 24 hrs
* 83 lm: 5 hrs
* 180 lm: 42 mins
* Regulated: yes (only non-strobe modes)


I know that Zebralight H51 is measured using Eneloop, but how can it put 200 lumens out the front for 54 mins with an XP-G? It seems to beat all other single AA lights.

Compared to the Quark AA2 S2 Edition, which uses two AA batteries and an S2, H51 still provides more lumens (200 vs 180) and more runtime (54 mins vs 42 mins)! I am not having in mind if they are OTF, ANSI or whatever, but the difference seems too high anyway.

By the way, who knows the bin of H51? Is it R5? Somewhere I have read the new versions are using XP-G R2, is that possible?

In specs you can read some impressive things (are these typos or what?):
* 0.6 lumens for 1277 mins in Quark AA2 S2 Edition: super long low mode! But in high mode (180 lumens for 42 mins), seems worse than H51.
* H51 gives 0.2 OTF lumens for 384 hours but Quark AA S2 gives 0.4 ANSI lumens for 422 hours! Quark doubles lumens, they are ANSI and gives more runtime. Why is H51 better in higher modes but worse in low ones?
* S2 doesn't seem to be that good (for what I have been reading, neither are S3).

What is your opinion about ZL H51? Does it respect what they claim? It seems that beats all other single AA flashlights specs I have read. How can it be possible? Even using Eneloop in others, H51 seems to be much better.

My guess (maybe I am wrong): H51 seems to be optimized for Eneloop, making advantage of it. It also seems to have a very good driver. But if that is the reason, why don't others do the same?

Bonus question: would it be possible to have a 2 x XP-G flashlight powered by 2 x AA giving near 400 OTF lumens for near 1 hour? If so, would it work for 3 x XP-G and so on? I would be glad to see a 6 x XP-G using six AA batteries and putting near 1200 lumens out.

Thank you for reading, sorry about so long text, I hope not to have bored you

I am sorry about my English

Hi Jalbam. :welcome: I think one of the problems that you have to keep in mind is the heat generated by the emitter. Especially if it's driven anywhere near hard enough to put out its potential. So when you start adding emitters, you have to get rid of the heat. If you made a heatsink that would handle it, now you have a big head on the flashlight and it would soon come to point of diminishing returns. So now they have multiple die emitters, but they get hot really quick. Lots of stuff going on behind that lens.

jalbam said:

I know that Zebralight H51 is measured using Eneloop, but how can it put 200 lumens out the front for 54 mins with an XP-G? It seems to beat all other single AA lights.

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I have one and it doesn't output 200lm for 54 minutes. It may operate on the highest output mode for 54 mins, but the output falls off gradually as the battery is not able to keep up with the current demands. Still it is a very impressive light and one of my favourites.

Its puts out slightly less 200 regulated for about 45 minutes, then tapers off. However, it puts out 140 straight for... about 100 minutes before falling out of regulation. About the same as the turbo on the LD10, but 60% more runtime!

Also, the Quark has less efficient circuitry, but has current controlled low low, whereas the Zebralight uses filtered PWM on the .2 lumen and 86 lumen levels, which evens out the current to the emmiter, but is still less efficient than current controlled.

I think the basic answer to your question is that Zebralight designed a very efficient circuit for this light, and it was built specifically for the emitter to be used and for an eneloop. I run 14500 Li Ions in my Quark to increase brightness etc, but the Zebralight can't handle that kind of variation in input voltage. It really is just designed to run an Eneloop, and as a result it does that one thing very well.

Don't know how you make the jump that just because the Zebralight isn't designed for lithium ions, that therefore it is "only designed to run an Eneloop." It works just fine with alkalines and with Energizer Lithiums. In fact, the brilliance (both meanings) of the Zebralight is that you don't NEED lithium ions.

If the only thing that worked satisfactorily in the Zebralight was an Eneloop, I wouldn't own it. Fortunately, that is not even remotely the case.

GeoBruin said:

I think the basic answer to your question is that Zebralight designed a very efficient circuit for this light, and it was built specifically for the emitter to be used and for an eneloop. I run 14500 Li Ions in my Quark to increase brightness etc, but the Zebralight can't handle that kind of variation in input voltage. It really is just designed to run an Eneloop, and as a result it does that one thing very well.

Click to expand...

fnj said:

Don't know how you make the jump that just because the Zebralight isn't designed for lithium ions, that therefore it is "only designed to run an Eneloop." It works just fine with alkalines and with Energizer Lithiums. In fact, the brilliance (both meanings) of the Zebralight is that you don't NEED lithium ions.

If the only thing that worked satisfactorily in the Zebralight was an Eneloop, I wouldn't own it. Fortunately, that is not even remotely the case.

Click to expand...

A more technically correct statement is the ZL 51 series utilize a very narrow voltage range driver. That is where the bulk of the extra efficiency comes from.

I've been waiting for delivery of a H51 myself for three weeks.
Apparently Zebralight is having problems keeping up with demand.

nunnya

jalbam said:

4Sevens Quark MiNi AA ...* Regulated: it doesn't say (probably not)

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Not regulated, direct drive and on a lithium ion cell if I remember an old thread correctly, it can produce a whopping 300lumens for some 30minutes. This is just for the minis, does not apply to the regular 47 aa. It isn't covered by warranty and you could fry the light, but it does work.

And with all that I would give a big advantage to the zebra h51 any day. It's on my shortlist.

Thank you all very much for your replies!

Today arrived my H51 and I am happy with it so far, we will see in a future if this changes

Cheers,

Joan

A word on the quarks and why they seem to be an underperformer on paper - the quarks are designed to utilize all 4 battery types (alkaline, lithium, NiMH rechargeable, and Li-ion rechargeable.) They have a voltage range of 4.2v to somewhere close to 0v. The hidden beauty of the quarks though is that they are best when running on a Li-ion battery. I EDC a Quark AA with an R5 LED, and on a 14500 Li-ion it puts out 200 lumens for almost an hour.

It's impressive what zebralight has done with the H51 & the SC51, and I love mine. They are running their lights very efficiently. But, I like my quarks just as much if not more since they are so versitile. I love that the Quarks are lego-able. I can take my quark AA head and tail & put them on my Quark AA2 body, or my Quark 123 body, or my Quark 18650 body with the same type of output. Just don't exceed their voltage rating, and the light should last a lifetime.

GeoBruin said:

I think the basic answer to your question is that Zebralight designed a very efficient circuit for this light, and it was built specifically for the emitter to be used and for an eneloop. I run 14500 Li Ions in my Quark to increase brightness etc, but the Zebralight can't handle that kind of variation in input voltage. It really is just designed to run an Eneloop, and as a result it does that one thing very well.

Click to expand...

I own a Zebralight SC51 which runs fine in both regular AA and on 14500. Getting 14500 to work is sometimes a little tricky because there are some raised circuit board chips around the positive terminal of the battery compartment at the head of the light. I solved this by taking out the 14500 rotating it a little and then putting it back in. After a few attempts it worked fine. Works with both AW and ultrafire 14500 batteries with no battery magnet needed. Once the battery is inserted properly the SC51 seems to work great on 14500. All modes function properly and the max power mode is noticeably brighter on 14500 than on AA. I haven't tried running for an extended period of time at max on 14500 (and won't because I don't want to kill the light), but it does seem to have better heatsinking than when I tried the same thing with a Quark mini-AA.

For anyone else interested in a single AA flashlight, check out the JETBeam BA10. I think this is going to be my next purchase.

http://www.jet-beam.com/links/pro/ba10.aspx

My mistake, it uses Lithium AA v1.7v

The H51 looks pretty impressive, who has the best prices on them.

Rinspeed said:

The H51 looks pretty impressive, who has the best prices on them.

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With the 10% cpf discount and free shipping, I think that Going Gear is generally the best deal on Zebralights.

Someone please tell me if I'm wrong

--flatline

Dry-cell said:

For anyone else interested in a single AA flashlight, check out the JETBeam BA10. I think this is going to be my next purchase.

http://www.jet-beam.com/links/pro/ba10.aspx

My mistake, it uses Lithium AA v1.7v

Click to expand...

Lithium 1.7V AAs?? Where do you have that information from? For me it looks like the BA10 uses concentional 1.2V/1.5V batteries.

It can use 1.7v lithium energizer aa but will work fine with regular aas

Maybe I'm wrong (again) but in the specs it say's Lithium AA. Considering the brightness output I'm guessing it's 1.7v. If it uses 1.2v-1.5v batteries that would be great!.

I've got the Quark. My best light to date. I carry that more than my Surefires.